N 


ART    AND   THE    PEOPLE 


BY 

Otto  H.  Kahn 


published  by 

The  New  York  City 

Shakespeare  Tercentenary  Celebration 

Committee 


Remarks 

by 

Otto  H.  Kahn 

at  the 

Shakespeare  Tercentenary 

Celebration  Dinner 

In  New  York  City 

May  4, 1916 


315969 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/artpeopleOOkahnrich 


ART 

AND  THE  PEOPLE 


IN  giving  you  greeting  and  bidding  you 
welcome,  may  I  say  that  it  is  a  particular 
gratification  to  me  to  see  amongst  you  so 
many  whom  I  had  not  known  hitherto,  or 
had  only  known  by  reputation  or  by  sight. 
I  trust  my  old  friends  will  not  consider 
this  a  left-handed  compliment.  I  am 
happy  indeed  to  see  them  here.  But  the 
opportunity  to  make  new  friends,  to  rub 
shoulders  and  exchange  thoughts  with 
people  outside  of  one's  accustomed  circle, 
is  all  too  rare  in  this  huge,  rushing  city. 
It  is  one  of  the  greatest  drawbacks  of 
life  in  New  York,  that  the  people  in  the 
various  walks  of  life  do  not  sufficiently 
come  into  contact  with  each  other. 


Page  Five 


>r,^.p..  .    T  ,  H. 


We  New  Yorkers  do  not  mix  enough. 
We  men  and  women  of  different  occupa- 
tions, professions  and  viewpoints  ought  to 
meet  far  more  frequently,  we  ought  to  get 
to  know  one  another  far  better,  and  thus 
demonstrate  to  one  another  that  none  of 
us,  neither  Wall  Street  men  nor  Socialists, 
have  claws  or  hoofs;  that  we  are  all  made 
of  the  same  basic  stuff,  affected  by  the 
same  joys  and  sorrows  and  responsive  to 
pretty  much  the  same  appeal. 

We  ought  to  seek  and  emphasize,  far 
more  than  we  are  doing,  that  which  unites 
us  instead  of  searching  out  and  accentu- 
ating and  indeed  exaggerating  that  which 
separates  us. 

Amongst  the  common  meeting  grounds 
available,  one  of  the  most  appropriate  is 
that  of  art.  For  art  is  democracy,  art  is 
equality  of  opportunity.  Not  the  false 
democracy  which,  misunderstanding  or 
misinterpreting  the  purpose  and  meaning 
of  the  democratic  conception,  seeks  or 
tends    to   establish    a    common    level    of 


Page  Six 


N       D  T      H 


mediocrity,  but  the  true  democracy  which, 
guided  by  the  star  of  the  ideal  and  firm  in 
its  faith,  strives  to  lead  us  all  onward  and 
upward  to  an  ever  higher  plane. 

And  the  people  are  willing  to  be  so  led. 
Let  me  say  in  parenthesis  that  when  I  say 
"the  people,''  I  do  not  use  the  term  with 
the  somewhat  patronizing  inflection  that  is 
sometimes  imparted  to  it,  rather  implying 
that  the  speaker  refers  to  a  thing  apart 
from  himself.  I  refer  to  you  and  to  me  no 
less  than  to  the  butcher  and  baker  and 
candlestick  maker. 

It  is  a  constant  source  of  wonderment 
to  me  how  "the  people"  are  underesti- 
mated by  most  of  those  who  seek  their  votes 
or  their  patronage.  Just  as  the  average 
politician  thinks  that  "the  people*'  want 
to  be  coddled  and  flattered  and  "soft- 
soaped,"  when  experience  has  shown  that 
the  royal  road  to  popular  success  is  to  show 
courage  and  independence  and  to  stand  up 
man-fashion  for  one's  convictions,  so  the 
average  theatrical  manager  thinks  that  he 


Page  Seven 


N      D  T      H 


must  play  down  to  an  assumed  level  of 
shallowness,  when  experience  has  shown 
that  the  greatest  probability  to  score  a 
hit  is  in  aiming  high. 

I  have  an  abiding  faith  that  the  people 
collectively  know  a  good  thing  when  they 
see  it.  It  is  true  that  sometimes  they 
make  the  judicious  grieve  by  taking  a 
pretty  poor  thing  for  a  good  thing,  but  I 
have  never  known  them  to  fail  to  recognize 
and  appreciate  the  truly  meritoriqus  in 
art.  In  fact,  I  have  admiringly  wondered 
more  than  once  at  their  capacity  to  enjoy 
and  digest  heavy  and  unusual  artistic  food, 
free  from  the  salt  or  spice  of  what  is 
ordinarily  considered  popular  appeal. 

I  have  never  believed  in  the  necessity 
or  advantage  of  gauging  theatrical  offer- 
ings according  to  the  alleged  standards  and 
requirements  of  the  "tired  business  man," 
or,  for  the  matter  of  that,  woman  (for 
women  are  usually  just  as  busy,  and  just  as 
tired  after  the  day's  work  as  are  the  men, 
only  as  a  rule  they  carry  their  tiredness  off 


Page  Eight 


;^RT  AND  THE 

n 


better  and  make  less  fuss  about  it).  Silly, 
inane  shows  are  no  antidote  to  "  that  tired 
feeling/'  What  both  men  and  women, 
tired  or  idle,  do  want  is  to  be  genuinely 
moved  and  stirred,  either  to  laughter  or  to 
tears,  or  stimulated  to  new  thought,  in 
short,  to  be  lifted  out  of  the  rut  and 
routine  of  their  daily  lives  and  mental 
atmosphere. 

When  the  right  to  vote  in  England  was 
thrown  open  to  the  masses  of  the  people,  a 
great  Englishman  said:  "Now  we  must 
educate  our  masters.'*  Yes,  but  education 
and  opportunity  for  learning  is  needed  not 
only  for  our  masters',  the  people's,  brains, 
but  also  for  their  souls  and  tastes. 

The  conditions  of  existence  of  the  great 
majority  of  the  people  are,  unfortunately, 
hard  and  wearing,  but  I  venture  to  ques- 
tion whether  as  yet  we  use  sufficiently  the 
spiritual  means  at  hand,  and  well  tested  in 
European  countries,  to  make  them  less  so. 

We  are  doing  as  much,  probably,  for 
education    as    any    other    country,    but 


Page  Nine 


N      D  T      H 


relatively  little  for  recreation.  And  recrea- 
tion of  the  right  kind  does  have  power 
literally  to  re-create,  to  re-create  the  wast- 
ing tissues  of  our  souls,  the  worn  fibres  of 
our  brains,  to  re-create  indeed  the  zest  and 
courage  for  life. 

Art  has  that  power  beyond  all  other 
forms  or  means  of  recreation.  And  the 
people  are  ready  to  welcome  art;  they  are 
hungry  for  nourishment  for  their  souls, 
eager  for  outlets  for  their  emotions.  Ob- 
servation and  experience  have  thoroughly 
convinced  me  how  great  and  beneficent  an 
influence  art  can,  and  should,  be  made  in 
their  lives. 


Page  Ten 


N       D  T       H 


A  RT,  and  particularly  the  art  of  music 
AA  and  of  the  stage,  is  a  serious  and  im- 
portant  cultural  element  in  the  life 
of  a  community.  It  has  a  weighty  purpose 
and  a  great  mission.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
potent  factors  for  good,  one  of  the  three  or 
four  greatest  agencies  which  tend  to  form 
and  guide  the  thoughts  and  the  sentiments 
and  the  conduct  of  the  people. 

The  craving  for  sensations — so  charac- 
teristic of  our  times,  and  particularly  of  our 
country — some  of  the  restlessness,  of  the 
turmoil,  of  the  lawlessness,  even  of  the 
crime  of  the  day,  spring  in  many  instances 
simply  from  a  desire  to  get  away  from  the 


Page  Eleven 


N       D  T       H 


unrelieved  dullness  and  drudgery  of  every- 
day existence.  ~  ^^^ 

It   is   very   far   from    being   generally 
appreciated  as  yet  how  much  can  be  done 
by  art,  and  especially  by  the  art  of  the 
stage,  to  give  proper  satisfaction  to  this 
natural  and  legitimate  desire,  to  lead  the 
strong  instinct  underlying  it  into  fruitful, 
instead  of  into  harmful,  or  even  destructive 
expression.      It    is    very   far    from    being^^ 
appreciated  as  yet  by  our  wealthy  men 
that  art  can  be  as  educational  as  univer- 
sities, that  it  has  elements  which,  to  a  / 
great  part  of  our  population,  can  make  it  as  • 
nourishing  as  soup  kitchens,  as  healing  as 
hospitals,  as  stimulating  as  any  medicinal 
tonic. 

European  governments  and  municipali- 
ties have  long  since  recognized  this  aspect 
of  public  utility  inherent  in  art,  and  have 
given  expression  to  this  recognition  by 
subsidizing  theatres  and  operas  and  other 
art  institutions.  Here,  in  accordance  with 
the  spirit  and  traditions  of  the  country,  this 


Page  Twelve 


N       D  T       H 


task  to  the  largest  extent  is  left  to  private 
initiative,  to  the  generosity  and  unselfish- 
ness, or,  if  you  will,  the  enlightened  selfish- 
ness of  those  who  can  afford  to  give.  It  is 
a  duty  and  a  privilege  and  ought  to  be  a 
pleasure  to  fulfil  it. 

Those  of  us  who  have  been  favored  by 
fortune,  who  sit  in  our  offices  or  well 
appointed  homes  more  or  less  satisfied 
with  the  general  scheme  of  things  and  with 
our  place  in  it,  must  and  must  increasingly 
do  all  we  can  to  prove  that  we  are  conscious 
of  the  obligations  which  are  imposed  upon 
us  by  due  recognition  of  the  advantages 
we  enjoy. 

For  educational  and  scientific  purposes 
a  vast  deal  has  been  done.  The  generosity 
displayed  by  many  of  our  wealthy  men  in 
this  respect  is  the  envy  and  admiration  of 
the  world.  But  to  the  immensely  large  and 
immensely  important  field  of  art  relatively 
little  attention  has  been  given  thus  far. 
Yet  the  opportunity  is  boundless  and  the 
need  very  great  for  men  who  will  put  some 


Page  Thirteen 


N      D  T      H 


of  their  wealth,  of  their  time  and  ability  in 
the  service  of  this  cause;  who,  conscious  of 
the  importance  and  the  far-reaching  influ- 
ence of  art,  will  help  along  in  movements 
having  for  their  purpose  the  advancement 
of  art  and  of  art  standards  and  the  procur- 
ing of  more  and  better  opportunities  in  the 
field  of  art,  both  to  the  public  and  to 
American  artists.  Maecenases  are  needed 
for  the  dramatic  stage,  the  operatic  stage, 
the  concert  stage;  for  conservatories  and 
art  academies;  for  the  encouragement  and 
support  of  American  writers,  painters, 
sculptors,  decorators,  etc.,  in  fact,  for  all 
those  things  which  in  Europe  have  been 
done  and  are  being  done  by  princes, 
governments  and  communities. 

Here  is  a  vast  opportunity  for  cultural 
and  helpful  work.  To  strive  toward  foster- 
ing the  art  life  of  the  country;  toward 
counteracting  harsh  materialism,  toward 
relieving  the  monotony  and  strain  of  the 
people's  every-daylife  by  helping  to  awaken 
in   them   or   to   foster   the  love   and   the 


Page  Fourteen 


ND  THE  PEO 


understanding  of  that  which  is  beautiful 
and  inspiring,  and  aversion  and  contempt 
for  that  which  is  vulgar,  cheap  and  degrad- 
ing, is,  I  think,  a  humanitarian  effort 
eminently  worth  making,  and  offering, 
moreover,  every  prospect  of  not  being 
attempted  in  vain. 


Page  Fifteen 


N      D  T      H 


II 


WE  all,  rich  and  poor  alike,  need  to  be 
taken  out  of  the  routine  and  grind 
of  our  daily  lives  once  in  a  while. 
We  all  of  us  are  the  better  for  psychic 
change  once  in  a  while,  just  as  we  are  the 
better  for  physical  change  of  air  and  sur- 
roundings. A  sluggish  soul  needs  stimula- 
tion just  as  much  as  a  sluggish  liver. 

To  feel,  to  appreciate,  to  understand 
the  beauty  of  nature  and  of  art  is  one  of  the 
greatest  gifts  that  can  be  given  to  any  one 
on  his  way  through  life.  I  rather  think  a 
great  majority  of  us  find  it,  with  other 
gifts,  in  our  cradle,  but  too  many  of  us 
either  do  not  grasp  it,  or,  as  we  grow  up 


Page  Sixteen 


N      D  T      H 


and    face    the    serious    business    of   life, 
deliberately  throw  it  overboard,  looking 
upon  it  as  useless,  or  even  harmful  ballast 
in  the  stern  and  strenuous  struggle  for 
success.   This  is  a  pity  and  a  great  mistake, 
even   from   a   utilitarian   point   of  view. 
Just  as  the  soil  of  agricultural  land  requires 
rotation  of  crops  in  order  to  produce  the"\, 
best  results,  so  does  the  soil  of  our  inner    / 
being  require  variety  of  treatment  in  order  ( 
to  remain  vigorous  and  elastic  and  fertile,  r 
and  to  enable  us  to  produce  the  best  we  are  j 
capable  of.  "^ 

Wealth  is  only  in  part  a  matter  of 
dollars  and  cents.  The  visitor  who  pays 
twenty-five  cents  for  a  seat  at  a  popular 
concert,  if  he  brings  with  him  love  and^ 
enthusiasm  for  art,  will  be  far  richer  that 
evening  than  the  man  or  woman  from 
Fifth  Avenue  if  he  or  she  sits  yawning  in  a 
box  at  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House. 

The  poor  man  in  a  crowded  tenement 
who  feels  moved  and  stirred  in  reading  a 
fine  book  will  be  far  richer  than  the  man  or 


Page  Seventeen 


N      D  T      H 


woman  sitting  in  dullness  in  a  gorgeous 
library.  If  he  goes  to  Central  Park  or 
Riverside  Drive  with  his  eyes  and  soul 
open  to  the  beauties  of  nature,  he  will  be 
far  richer  than  the  man  or  woman  chasing 
through  the  glories  of  Italy  or  France  in 
a  luxurious  automobile,  the  man  thinking 
of  the  Stock  Exchange  and  the  woman  of 
her  new  dress  or  next  party. 

The  late  Booker  T.  Washington  used  to 
tell  a  story  of  his  meeting  a  colored  woman 
and  asking  her:  "Well,  Miranda,  where 
are  you  going?"  to  which  she  responded, 
"Fse  going  nowhere,  Mr.  Washington, 
Tse  been  where  I  am  going," 

This  country  hasn't  **been  where  it  is 
going."  A  great  stirring  and  moving  is 
going  on  in  the  land.  The  old  order 
changeth,  giving  place  to  new.  Call  it 
"the  new  freedom"  or  "my  policies,"  or 
what  you  will,  the  people  at  large  are  astir 
groping,  seeking  for  a  condition  of  things 
which  shall  be  better  and  happier,  which 
shall  give  them  a  greater  share,  not  only  of 


Page  Eighteen 


ND  THE  PEO 


the  comforts  and  material  rewards,  but  of 
the  joys  and  the  recreations,  the  beauties 
and  the  inspirations  of  life.  It  is  a  move- 
ment which  is  full  of  promise,  and  a  men- 
ace only  if  ignored,  repressed,  or  falsely 
and  selfishly  led.  Most  of  it  will  find 
expression  in  politics,  in  economic  and 
social  legislation;  some  of  it  will  find 
expression  in  art. 


Page  Nineteen 


N      D  T      H 


III 


IN  this  great  country,  with  its  vast 
mixture  of  races,  all  thrown  into  the 
melting  pot  of  American  traditions, 
climate  and  surroundings,  there  is  all  the 
raw  material  of  a  splendid  artistic  develop- 
ment. Every  kind  of  talent  is  latent  here. 
All  that  is  required  is  opportunity,  inspira- 
tion and  guidance.  And  in  addition  we  have 
here  the  best  public  to  appeal  to  that  exists 
anywhere,  a  public  eager  to  learn,  quick  to 
perceive  and  to  respond,  sure  to  appre- 
ciate and  retain;  fresh,  spontaneous  and 
genuine  in  its  feelings,  clean  and  healthy  in 
its  artistic  instincts  and  aspirations,  not 
yet  affected  by   the  taint  of  decadence 


Page  Twenty 


ND  THE  PEOPL.     E 


which  has  begun  to  cast  its  blight  upon  art 
in  some  other  countries. 

In  saying  this,  I  do  not  dispute  the 
charge  frequently  laid  against  us  that  our 
people  lack  as  yet  in  discrimination  and 
that  they  are  not  sufficiently  intolerant 
of  the  meretricious  in  art,  but  these  are 
faults  of  youth,  and  moreover  essentially 
negative  faults,  curable  and  in  process  of 
being  cured,  while  the  virtues  to  which  I 
have  referred  are  positive  in  character  and 
cumulative  and  progressive  in  effect.  Ad- 
mitting that  our  people  are  apt  at  times  to 
follow  false  gods,  I  say,  let  the  right  god 
come  along  and  they  will  recognize  him 
unfailingly  and  follow  him  rejoicing. 

America  is  a  much  misunderstood  and 
consequently  maligned  place.  Its  foibles, 
its  imperfections  "jump  at  the  eye,"  to 
use  a  graphic  French  expression.  Its  really 
controlling  qualities — and  they  are  beau- 
tiful and  lofty  and  full  of  promise — lie  deep 
and  are  not  apparent  to  the  casual  beholder. 
The  world  likes  the  short  cut  of  catch 


Page  Twenty-one 


RT  AND  THE  PEOPL 


phrases,  such  as  ''the  almighty  dollar/' 
and  is  reluctant  to  go  to  the  trouble  of 
reconsidering  opinions  once  formed. 

America  in  the  past  century  had  the 
formidable  task  of  conquering  a  continent, 
physically  and  industrially,  and  it  was 
necessary  that  the  best  brains,  the  intensest 
energies  and  activities  of  its  people  should 
devote  themselves  to  that  stern  task  of 
material  effort,  the  amazing  success  of 
which  was  naturally  measured  and  ex- 
pressed largely  in  terms  of  dollars  and  cents. 

But  the  day  of  the  industrial  pioneer  is 
over  (though  vast  commercial  develop- 
ment, vast  indeed  beyond  all  imagination, 
still  lies  before  us)  and  with  it  has  gone — if 
it  ever  existed — the  day  of  the  almighty 
dollar.  The  day  of  the  pioneer  of  culture 
and  idealism  has  come,  and  the  power  of 
the  idea  is,  and  has  always  been,  even  in 
America's  most  materialistic  days,  far 
mightier  than  that  of  the  dollar.  After 
more  than  a  century's  stupendous  effort 
and    unparalleled — almost    too    rapid  — 


Page  Twenty-two 


ND  THE  PEO 


economic  advance,  we  have  reached  a  stage 
where  we  can  afford,  and  ought,  to  occupy 
ourselves  increasingly  with  questions  affect- 
ing the  mental,  moral  and  psychical  well- 
being  and  progress  of  the  race. 


Page  Twenty-three 


N       D  THE 


IV 


AVAST  army  equipped  with  spiritual 
weapons,  second  to  those  of  no  other 
nation,  stands  ready  and  impatient 
to  follow  those  qualified  to  lead,  across  the 
tenaciously  held  trenches  of  ugliness,  dull- 
ness and  commercialism,  to  the  heights 
beyond.  America  has  been  rightly  called, 
by  a  hard-headed  European  observer,  "the 
land  of  unlimited  possibilities/'  He 
referred  to  the  possibilities  of  business, 
but  the  same  thing  holds  true  of  the 
possibilities  of  art.  More  in  this  country 
than  anywhere  else,  is  it  possible  to  walk 
with  one's  feet  on  the  earth  and  one's  head 
in  the  clouds. 


Page  Twenty-four 


N      D  THE 


In  the  present  juncture  of  the  world's 
affairs  many  a  great  opportunity  and  a  duty 
commensurately  great  lies  before  America. 
One  of  the  greatest  of  such  opportunities 
and  duties  is  in  the  field  of  art. 

When  this  appalling  war  comes  to  be 
ended,  the  heavy  burden  of  reconstruction 
will  lie  upon  weary  and  weakened  Europe. 
Millions  of  the  flower  of  its  youth  and  man- 
hood will  have  been  killed  or  maimed. 
The  utmost  energies  of  the  men  and 
women  of  the  leading  European  nations 
will  have  to  be  devoted  for  years  to  come  to 
the  hard  and  stern  task  of  material  effort. 

In  the  stress  and  strain  of  the  post- 
bellum  period,  the  high  altar  on  which 
there  burns  the  sacred  flame  of  art  may  be 
left  for  a  time  with  but  few  attendants. 
It  is  America's  opportunity,  it  is  America's 
high  privilege  and  duty  to  aid  in  keeping 
alive  that  sacred  flame.  It  is  her  privilege 
and  duty  to  open  wide  her  portals  to  art 
and  artists,  to  become  a  militant  force  in 
the  cause  and  service  of  art,  to  be  foremost 


Page  Twenty-five 


N      D  T      H 


in  helping  to  create  and  spread  that  which 
beautifies  and  enriches  life,  to  fight  and 
seek  to  destroy  that  which  vulgarizes  and 
lowers  it. 

To  accomplish  this  great  task  there 
must  be  leaders — but  the  test  of  a  leader  is 
that  he  have  followers.  Those  who  con- 
ceived and  took  charge  of  the  execution  of 
the  bold  and  broad  plans  of  the  Shake- 
speare Tercentenary  Celebration  have  met 
that  test.  In  the  face  of  much  discourage- 
ment and  some  scoffing,  they  went  ahead 
in  that  simple  and  enthusiastic  faith 
which  has  the  power  to  move  not  merely 
mountains,  but — which  is  harder — to  over- 
come the  inertia  of  New  York.  They — and 
I  mean  especially  the  women,  for  it  is  the 
women  headed  by  Miss  Beegle  and  Miss 
Oglebay  who  did  much  the  largest  and 
hardest  part  of  the  work — have  accom- 
plished what  has  never  before  been  done 
in  this  city,  they  have  aroused,  mobilized 
and  organized  the  community  spirit  in  the 
cause  of  art. 


Page  Twenty-six 


N       D  T      H 


This  Tercentenary  Celebration  which 
will  culminate  in  the  production  of  Percy 
Mackaye's  Masque,  is  not  a  "high-brow" 
affair,  it  is  not  a  benevolent  uplift  move- 
ment backed  by  a  few  men  and  women  of 
wealth.  It  stands  upon  a  broad  and  deep 
popular  base;  it  enlists  and  has  significance 
for  Avenue  A  no  less  than  for  Fifth  Avenue; 
it  has  the  enthusiastic  support  and  active 
co-operation  of  two  thousand  different 
organizations  directly  representing  800,000 
constituents.  It  is  the  most  democratic, 
most  comprehensive  and  most  promising 
response  which  has  ever  been  given  in  this 
community  to  the  appeal  of  art.  It  demon- 
strates conclusively  the  extent  and  genu- 
ineness of  the  latent  interest  in  and  feeling 
and  desire  for  art. 


Page  Twenty-seven 


N       D  THE 


V 


A  ND  now  that  we,  or  rather  the  men  and 
AA  women  workers  of  the  Shakespeare 
Celebration  Committee — for  my  own 
part  has  been  entirely  insignificant — have 
succeeded  beyond  all  anticipations  in  calling 
the  community  spirit  into  action,  let  us 
seek  to  perpetuate  it  as  a  concrete  and 
living  force.  The  main  purpose  for  which 
I  have  ventured  to  ask  you  all  to  this 
dinner-meeting,  was  to  obtain  appropriate 
action  to  that  end. 

Hoping  that  you  will  forgive  me  a  some- 
what Tammanyesque  method  of  procedure 
for  the  sake  of  the  good  cause,  and  also  for 
the  sake  of  completing  our  program  for  this 


Page  Twenty-eight 


AND     /--T.   H  -  ^'.-0  :•?:•, e:  ."o 


evening  at  not  too  late  an  hour  for  your 
comfort,  I  have  made  free  to  prepare  a 
resolution.  In  keeping  with  the  spirit  and 
character  of  this  gathering,  I  have  asked 
Mr.  James  Beck,  who,  apart  from  being  a 
distinguished  writer  and  orator  and  a 
profound  student  of  Shakespeare,  is  a 
corporation  lawyer  and  a  stalwart  Repub- 
lican, to  move  it,  and  Mr.  Morris  Hillquit, 
a  tribune  of  the  people  and  a  leading 
exponent  of  Socialistic  doctrine,  to  second 
it.     The  resolution  is  as  follows: 

Whereas  the  attendance  at  the  various  Shakespeare 
performances  during  the  past  theatrical  season  and 
the  widespread  interest  displayed  in  the  Shakespeare 
Tercentenary  Celebration  have  demonstrated  that  the 
people  in  all  walks  of  life  are  ready  to  respond  to  the 
appeal  of  serious  arty  and 

Whereas  the  Shakespeare  Tercentenary  Celebration 
Committee  has  succeeded  in  enlisting  the  co-operation 
of  a  great  many  different  organizations  towards  an 
adequate  expression  of  the  community  spirit  in  arty  and 

Whereas  //  appears  desirable  to  perpetuate  and 
enlarge  such  co-operation  and  to  endeavor  to  give 


Page  Twenty-nine 


comprehensive  expression,  definite  aim  and  systematic 
guidance  to  what  has  heretofore  been  mainly  indeter^ 
minate  aspiration  and  sporadic  and  scattered  effort^ 

Be  It  Resolved  That  the  Mayor's  Honorary 
Committee  and  the  New  York  City  Shakespeare 
Tercentenary  Celebration  Committee  constitute  them- 
selves into  a  permanent  organization,  with  power  to 
add  to  their  number,  in  order  to  serve  the  cause  of  art 
and  more  particularly  that  of  the  stage  and  of  the 
pageant,  and  to  foster  and  give  expression  to  the  com- 
munity spirit  and  to  community  effort  in  art. 

Further  Resolved  That  the  Chairman  be 
directed  to  appoint  a  committee  for  the  purpose  of 
devising  ways  and  means  to  carry  into  effect  the  sense 
of  this  resolution  and  that  such  committee  report  its 
recommendations  and  conclusions  to  a  joint  meeting 
of  the  Mayor's  Honorary  Committee  and  the 
Shakespeare  Tercentenary  Celebration  Committee, 
such  meeting  to  be  called  by  the  Chairman  at  as  early 
a  date  as  practicable* 


Page  Thirty 


Syracuft«,  |' 
StocKton, 


FOURTEEN  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 


This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 

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